"Krone" was on site

Gifts and hugs at the SOS Children’s Village in Hanoi

Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister, Lower Austrian State Councillor for Social Affairs, visited the SOS Children's Village in the Vietnamese capital with a delegation.

(Bild: Phong Truyen Thong)

Young people from Vietnam are to be trained as care assistants in Lower Austria. Former residents of the SOS Children's Village in Hanoi are also seizing the opportunity for education. The "Krone" took a closer look at how children and young people live there. 

Homemade gifts, hugs and happy children's laughter - the Austrian delegation received a warm welcome when they visited the SOS Children's Village in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. The beaming faces of the 168 children and young people who are currently growing up here show that they have not had an easy start in life. 

The SOS Children's Village was the last stop on the delegation's trip to Vietnam, which was attended by Social Welfare Minister Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister (ÖVP) as well as representatives of the state, the State Health Agency, the Senecura Group and the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems. The reason for this is the current nursing project together with the University of Hanoi: young people from Vietnam are learning German here in order to be trained as nursing assistants at the International Nursing Center in Krems next year.  

From the SOS Children's Village to the FH campus
Three of the students grew up in the SOS Children's Village in Hanoi. The fact that they now have the opportunity to work in Lower Austria is therefore anything but a matter of course. Dat (19), Khanh (24) and Thao (20) were present during the "Krone" visit. The latter often comes to visit the SOS Children's Village mothers and her "siblings". The young Vietnamese woman has lived here for eight years, she says. 

Thao (left), Khanh and Dat visit their former home, the SOS Children's Village

(Bild: Phong Truyen Thong)

A loving home
In contrast to other facilities, the SOS Children's Village in Hanoi still has a real village character: over 150 children and young people currently live in 14 houses and two shared flats. Each SOS Children's Village mother looks after seven to nine children. There is also a kindergarten and a spacious playground on the premises. The school is close by and can be reached on foot. 

There are a total of 17 villages in Vietnam where children find a loving home. 

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High-ranking visit to the SOS Children's Village
Together with German teachers from the University of Hanoi, Provincial Councillor Christiane Teschl-Hofmeister paid a visit to the young and old residents. And of course the delegation did not come empty-handed: There was a bag full of sweets for the kids, and the caregivers were presented with a brand new washing machine, which is urgently needed. 

"One of the first SOS Children's Villages in the world was established in Lower Austria in the middle of the last century and children and young people still find a loving home there today. And we are happy to support them in this on behalf of the province of Lower Austria, especially with school education," emphasizes Teschl-Hofmeister: "I am all the more pleased that we are building a bridge between Lower Austria and the SOS Children's Village Hanoi with the international educational cooperation between the IMC FH Krems, the province of Lower Austria and the University of Hanoi in order to provide educational opportunities and enrich the lives of young and older people here in Lower Austria in the future."

SOS Children's Village

Today, SOS Children's Villages cares for 600,000 children, young people and families in need around the world, speaks out loudly for children's (rights) and helps young people to make their voices heard.

History of the SOS Children's Village
The Second World War left its mark on Austria. Numerous children lost their parents or did not receive adequate parental care. Hermann Gmeiner, a farmer's son from Vorarlberg and himself a half-orphan at an early age, took heart and, together with his team, founded the "Societas Socialis" association in Innsbruck in 1949 - later known as SOS Children's Villages. In the same year, construction work began on the first SOS Children's Village in Imst in Tyrol.

In 1951, 40 children moved into their new home with their SOS Children's Village mothers, and three years later there were already 130 children. There are now SOS Children's Villages all over the world, helping children and families in need. 

Help in Vietnam
Around 26 million children live in Vietnam. Although their living conditions have improved significantly over the last two decades, there are growing inequalities in terms of ethnicity, place of origin, gender and disability. According to SOS Children's Villages, there are currently around 170,000 children in Vietnam who are not being cared for by their parents. Since 1967, SOS Children's Villages has been supporting local children and young people who have to grow up without parental care or are at risk of losing it.

Thanks to SOS Children's Villages, around 15,000 children and young people learn in their kindergartens and schools, around 4,500 children and adults are supported in the community and around 2,000 grow up in their care.

You can find more information about SOS Children's Villages here.